A new female crash dummy could help fix safety gaps  read on >

Forcing veterans to revisit the horrors that led to their post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) might prompt many to drop out of therapy, a new evidence review found. About a quarter of U.S. service members and veterans who start psychotherapy for PTSD quit before they finish treatment, according to a review published Nov. 17 in the journal Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. But some therapies, while proven to be effective, report higher dropout rates than others, researchers found. Trauma-focused approaches like exposure therapy and cognitive processing therapy tended to have higher dropout rates than approaches focusing on mindfulness, meditation and stress reduction, results show. “Dropout rates remain a significant challenge in PTSD care for military populations,” lead researcher Elizabeth Penix-Smith, a National Research Council fellow at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland, said in a news release. “Identifying which protocols are more sustainable can help clinicians tailor care and policymakers prioritize treatments that keep patients engaged,” Penix-Smith said. About 7% of veterans suffer from PTSD at some point in their lives, slightly higher than the rate seen among the general public, researchers said in background notes. The disorder can increase risk of heart disease and stroke. For the study, researchers analyzed data from 181 prior studies covering 232 PTSD treatments and more than 124,000 military participants. On average, just…  read on >  read on >

Forcing veterans to revisit the horrors that led to their post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) might prompt many to drop out of therapy, a new evidence review found. About a quarter of U.S. service members and veterans who start psychotherapy for PTSD quit before they finish treatment, according to a review published Nov. 17 in the journal Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. But some therapies, while proven to be effective, report higher dropout rates than others, researchers found. Trauma-focused approaches like exposure therapy and cognitive processing therapy tended to have higher dropout rates than approaches focusing on mindfulness, meditation and stress reduction, results show. “Dropout rates remain a significant challenge in PTSD care for military populations,” lead researcher Elizabeth Penix-Smith, a National Research Council fellow at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland, said in a news release. “Identifying which protocols are more sustainable can help clinicians tailor care and policymakers prioritize treatments that keep patients engaged,” Penix-Smith said. About 7% of veterans suffer from PTSD at some point in their lives, slightly higher than the rate seen among the general public, researchers said in background notes. The disorder can increase risk of heart disease and stroke. For the study, researchers analyzed data from 181 prior studies covering 232 PTSD treatments and more than 124,000 military participants. On average, just…  read on >  read on >

Folks who’ve had a recent concussion might not want to get behind the wheel anytime soon. Concussion victims are more likely to wind up in a traffic crash and that increased risk is highest during the first four weeks after their brain injury, researchers reported Nov. 6 in BMJ Open. A concussion causes brain problems that can affect driving skills, including insomnia, dizziness, depression, brain fog and slowed reaction times, researchers said. “I worry that sometimes a concussion requires more recovery time than most people realize,” lead researcher Dr. Donald Redelmeier, a scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto, Canada, said in a news release. “Rushing things might lead to another injury including a life-threatening traffic crash,” he said. For the study, researchers analyzed medical records for more than 3 million patients in Ontario who suffered either a concussion or an ankle sprain between April 2002 and March 2022. They identified more than 425,000 people who were treated for concussion and 2.6 million with an ankle sprain. People with a concussion had an overall 49% higher risk of being in a traffic crash than those who’d sprained their ankle, the study found. But their risk was six times higher in the first month following a concussion, researchers noted. About 1 in every 13 concussion patients wound up injured…  read on >  read on >

Folks who’ve had a recent concussion might not want to get behind the wheel anytime soon. Concussion victims are more likely to wind up in a traffic crash and that increased risk is highest during the first four weeks after their brain injury, researchers reported Nov. 6 in BMJ Open. A concussion causes brain problems that can affect driving skills, including insomnia, dizziness, depression, brain fog and slowed reaction times, researchers said. “I worry that sometimes a concussion requires more recovery time than most people realize,” lead researcher Dr. Donald Redelmeier, a scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto, Canada, said in a news release. “Rushing things might lead to another injury including a life-threatening traffic crash,” he said. For the study, researchers analyzed medical records for more than 3 million patients in Ontario who suffered either a concussion or an ankle sprain between April 2002 and March 2022. They identified more than 425,000 people who were treated for concussion and 2.6 million with an ankle sprain. People with a concussion had an overall 49% higher risk of being in a traffic crash than those who’d sprained their ankle, the study found. But their risk was six times higher in the first month following a concussion, researchers noted. About 1 in every 13 concussion patients wound up injured…  read on >  read on >